Fall+2013+Courses

SUST = Sustainability Studies, FO = Freshman Only
 * KEY ** : cr = credit hours; CI = communication intensive; PD-II = satisfies Engineering Professional Development II Requirement

= **! NEW COURSE !** =

Fall 2013, the STS Department is offering a variable credit course for students involved in action learning -- through work on projects with Engineers for a Sustainable World, for example, or with other student groups. Students will gain course credit for hours logged with a project, and will do social science reading and research that relates to and helps advance their projects. Their findings will be presented as a written report, and in a oral presentation at the STS Undergraduate Research Symposium to be held on Wednesday, December 4. Students can take the course for 1-6 credits. If interested, contact Professor Woodhouse at woodhe@rpi.edu .
 * __Sustainability Practicum -- 1-6cr, SUST Woodhouse T 4-6pm__**

An introduction to the social, historical, and ethical influences on modern science and technology. Cases include development of the atomic bomb, mechanization of the workplace, Apollo space program, and others. Readings are drawn from history, fiction, and social sciences; films and documentary videos highlight questions about the application of scientific knowledge to human affairs. The class is designed to give students freedom to develop and express their own ideas. __ **Cultures Of Scientific Revolution - 4cr, FO** (IHSS 1978) M Fortun MR 2-3:50pm  __ How is science different from or similar to other human endeavors? What kind of truths does science produce, and how? How does a science change and develop? What kind of a person is a scientist? How does science interact with other parts of our culture, like politics, literature, and religion? Our goal is to develop an understanding of science as a human activity, in a dynamic give-and-take with the rest of the culture, through a collaborative exploration of some of its most dramatic and important “revolutions”: the Scientific Revolution of the 16th-18th centuries, the demise of determinism and absolute space-time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Manhattan Project and the re-organization of American science after World War II, and the development of Darwinian evolutionary theory and its lasting social impacts. Students in this course participate in a series of class debates, presenting and cross-examining the arguments of those who have a stake in various environmental controversies (about energy, toxic chemicals, consumption, etc.) Students also work in groups to design a proposal for a project to help solve an environmental problem. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to develop their own environmental values and ideas. This course focuses on the social, biological and ecological aspects of humans in the natural world. We emphasize critical thinking about where we come from and where we are going. We will learn about how we have used the land in the past, what we do today, and what our prospects are as a species for the twenty-first century. Contemporary issues such as land use, climate change, energy use, and biodiversity loss will be explored through literature, films, and guest lectures. The course is also organized around a series of “ethnographic” exercises that involve both group and individual field work at (historic) sites such as the Erie Canal, Lake George, and elsewhere (including “virtual” trips to remote places). This will allow you to study human habitation and its relationship to nature in a variety of different ecological settings. Students are expected to participate very actively in class through critical dialogue, creative writing, group projects, and presentations. In addition to being a core seminar for the “Vasudha” living and learning community, this course is a First Year Studies seminar designed to focus on your academic transition to college. Various academic transition topics and exercises are integrated into this course.
 * __ Science, Technology, & Society – 4cr, CI, SUST PD-II __ **__  (STSH/S 1110) Breyman TF 2-3:50pm  __
 * __ Environment and Politics -- 4cr, CI, SUST, FO __**__ (IHSS 1966) Woodhouse TF 2-3:50pm __
 * __ Nature and Society – 4cr, CI, SUST, FO __ **__ (IHSS 1970) Costelloe-Kuehn TF 2-3:50pm  __

** __ PDI Design Studio I - 4cr __ **__ (IHSS 1610) Costelloe-Kuehn MR 2-4:50pm __ The first design studio in the Product Design and Innovation Program introduces students to general design through a series of short projects. The projects stress creative thinking and invention, observation and perception, communication and visualization, sketching, photography, model-making, and especially open-ended exploration.

Central features of American life once renowned for their quality and integrity -- factories, schools, infrastructure, media, criminal justice, and political democracy itself -- are increasing prominent as sites of dysfunction, inequality and decline. The class will study the underlying causes of these overlapping crises and possibilities for reform. Careful reading of works in social and political analysis will be supplemented with study of the everyday tragedies depicted in "The Wire." The course's main theme is ecological sustainability: what it is, how it might be achieved, how it can be maintained. The theory and practice of sustainability are explored in three parts: through an examination of the concepts, actors, and processes of society-environment interactions; through an analysis of environmental philosophies and models for action; and by addressing the problems of and prospects for building sustainable societies. This course prepares students for advanced environmental humanities and social sciences courses. What U.S. and international laws protect the environment? Who is involved in the design and enforcement of these laws? What landmark cases shape the way people think about environmental law? How could law better protect the environment and advance sustainability? This course examines these questions to the legal context and grounding of diverse sustainability issues. This studio design course focuses on an enriched sense of problem definition through an emphasis on the reach and interconnectedness of technology, and the conditionality of design selection criteria. Its design exercises, readings, and discussion press beyond marginal substitutions toward a broadened sense of possibility from, for example, “hypercars” and human-powered homes to small-scale local agriculture and extreme ecological living systems. This is a communication-intensive course.
 * __ American Politics and Society in Crisis - 4cr __ **__ (STSS 2430) Winner M R 2-3:50pm __
 * __ Environment and Society – 4cr, PD-II, SUST __ **__ (STSS 2300) Kinchy MR 2-3:50pm __
 * __ Environment & Law – 4cr, SUST __**__ (STSS 2960) Howard MR 12-1:50pm __
 * __ PDI Design Studio III - 4cr __**__ (IHSS 2610) Neiusma TF 2-4:50pm __

With an individual faculty member on an agreed-upon topic.
 * __ Readings in Science and Technology Studies - __**__ **1-6cr** (STSH 2940) Staff TBA __

This course teaches basic historical, anthropological, and sociological concepts that can be used to make sense of a wide variety of contemporary phenomena students encounter in everyday life. The focus is on analyzing how licit and illicit drugs serve as “technologies” within specific social contexts or subcultures; what drug policy reveals about social, political, and economic organization; and the impacts of biomedical knowledge and practice on specific population groups. The course focuses on the representation of drug use and drug users in popular culture, science and medicine, and history and the social sciences. This is a communication-intensive course.
 * __ Drugs in History __ **__ - **4cr CI** (STSH 2940) Campbell MR 10-11:50am __

PDI studio V focuses on an enriched sense of program and user needs definition through methodologies of the humanities and social sciences. Studio projects, presentations and readings explore the relation of race, class, and gender to technology, and the potential of design to address societal problems. The course has often focused on incorporating information technology in educational tools for low-income primary school students.
 * __ PDI Design Studio V - 4cr PD-II __**__ (STSH 4610) Eglash MR 9-11:50am __

This course offers insight into the public, policy process from the vantage point of a part-time internship in the public or private sector as well as an opportunity to explore a career option before actually embarking upon it. The following is a partial list of the large number of possible internships: airport planning, architecture, banking, biological research, clinical psychology, computer science, consumer protection, corporate management, engineering, environmental planning, geology, local government, materials and mechanical engineering, noise pollution abatement, personnel management review, premedical, public finance and taxation, public health management, public relations, social work, state legislature, stock market, transportation planning, and urban planning. Advancing environmental sustainability will depend on many kinds of expertise. In this course, students will explore the evolving terrain of green jobs, and diverse sustainability-oriented career pathways they could purse that leverage the expertise they have developed through their undergraduate studies. The course provide students the opportunity to conduct sustained research that examines where sustainability-oriented work is being done, and how people with varied expertise are making a contribution. This course provides students with a wide-ranging understanding of the environmental and social context of food, agriculture, and hunger. Drawing primarily on sociological concepts and research, the class will take a “food systems” approach, analyzing food as it travels from farm to table as part of an interconnected process. Students will examine why we eat the way we do and how our food choices affect other people and the environment. Oil undergirds and drives contemporary societies. In this course, we will map the ways we depend on oil the problems associated with oil, and alternative sources of energy. In process, we will extend our thinking about the matrix of problems that make environmental sustainability both difficult, and an urgent priority. **__ STS-Sustainability Research Methods – 4cr, SUST __**__ (STSS 4964) Mascarenhas MR 2-3:50pm __ Students in this course will explore an array of methods used in the social sciences and humanities, developing their capacity to carry out independent and collaborative research. STS and SUST majors only, or by permission of instructor. **Sustainability Research Design – 4cr SUST (**STSS 4961) K. Fortun T-F 12-1:50 This course guides students through research design for a social science thesis, resulting in a thesis proposal and plan of work. The course helps students think about and focus their research goals, and identify sources of data. Students produce extensive research memos every week, which feed into the proposal due at the end of the semester. Restricted to STS, SUST and DIS majors.
 * __ Public Service Internship – 4cr, SUST __**__ (STSH/S 4800) Fisk W 6-7:50pm __
 * __ Sustainability Careers – 4cr, SUST __**__ (STSH 4960) Fisk TF 10-11:50am __
 * __ Food, Farms, & Famine – 4cr, SUST, PD-II __**__ (STSS 4260) Kinchy TF 2-3:50pm __
 * __ Oil Politics – 4cr, SUST __ **__ (STSS 4962) Breyman TF 10-11:50am __

Ordinarily consists of independent research, supervised by a faculty member, culminating in a written thesis. A creative endeavor such as a videotape or computer program may be substituted with departmental permission. This is a communication-intensive course. ** __ Professional Development – 2cr, PD-II __ **__ (STSS 4840) Fisk MR 2-3:50pm __ This class explores technological contexts for leadership, styles and skills of leadership, and different leadership roles. Assignments develop a variety of communication skills. A team-based project gives students the opportunity to demonstrate leadership initiative by proposing solutions to social problems that combine technical expertise with social analysis and communication skills. ** __ Concepts/Research Seminar in STS - 3cr __ **__ (STSS 6020) Kinchy M 10am-12:50pm __ A two-semester graduate seminar designed primarily for matriculates in the department’s M.S. program in Science and Technology Studies. Introduces students to the literature and the current issues in the constituent disciplines of Science and Technology Studies. Considers applications of this scholarship to current practical problems involving the human dimensions of science and technology. The first semester culminates in a bibliographic essay. In the second semester, students conduct research under the supervision of individual faculty members on topics of mutual interest. **__ Technology Studies - 3cr __**__ (STSS 6040) Winner M 6-8:50pm __ The seminar examines interactions between technology and society from the vantage point of the various disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives that have contributed to technology studies. The texts, theories, and arguments that were important for the historical development of the field are covered, as well as contemporary issues. The seminar provides the resources and develops the skill needed for understanding, criticizing, constructing, and developing research in the field.
 * __ Senior Project – 4cr __ **__ (STSS 4980) Fisk T 4-5:50pm __

This is a course in classical social theory in a time of great ferment re: canons and questions about the importance of "founding fathers" versus subaltern and secondary "voices." It is also a time a great concern with modernism and/or structuralism. Because of this it is particularly important to know, and interrogate, the roots of modern and post-modern social thought. The texts, methods, theories and insights of Karl Marx and other important thinkers act as a ground for subsequent theoretical architectures - as well as the foundation against which a great deal of contemporary theory reacts. The explanatory power of classical theory should never be under-estimated. Similarly, however, the situatedness of classical theory in particular places and times flush with particular concerns and debates demands critical analysis.
 * __ Classical Social Theory - 3cr __**__ (STSS 6960) Mascarenhas F 10am-12:50pm __

Immersive introduction to major texts, concepts, and authors of the structuralist and poststructuralist traditions in various disciplines, including philosophy (Nietszche, Husserl, Heidegger, Derrida, Deleuze, Stengers), linguistics and anthropology (Jakobsen, Levi-Strauss) and feminism and psychoanalysis (Butler, Ronell, Grosz, Felman, Wilson), especially as they pertain to matters of knowledge in the sciences, the technological unconscious, and the materiality of semiotics.
 * __ Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, and Technoscience - 3cr __**__ (STSS 6200) M. Fortun R 10am-12:50pm __